It’s Draft Day

Right around the first pitch of tonight’s game against the Phillies, the draft room on the eighth floor at Dodger Stadium will start buzzing as the Dodgers gear up to make their first selection, the 16th overall choice this year. You can watch it live on MLB Network or follow the unparallelled coverage at mlb.com, as Maury Wills and Dodger scout Rich De Lucia represent the team at the draft in New York.

Last year, the Dodgers were the surprise of the first round, snagging Zach Lee with a pick late in the day though he was considered “unsignable.” With a bonus of more than $5 million, he joined the ranks of Dodger prospects which includes the last eight years worth of first-round pitchers (James Loney in 2002 was our last position player taken in the first round).

A day like today (and the next few days) are the culmination of an insane amount of work by all of our scouts who traverse the country looking for the next great Dodger player. It could be a first-rounder like Clayton Kershaw or a sixth-rounder like Matt Kemp…or even later in the draft, as many success stories come from then, too. But these scouts are truly the backbone of the game of baseball and rarely get the credit they are due.

So tune in tonight and give a shout out to the Dodger scouts and administrators who have made it their life’s work to find the next player you’ll root for at Dodger Stadium.

Very good article, Dodgereric. Except for the Juanpy part…I never thought of him as a glove man 🙂 I had a glove my Dad bought me (wasn’t the Barbie Doll type) and I had to get it conditioned by wetting it, wrapping string around it and yes, put it under my mattress. I wasn’t the best player but, I had a cool glove!

Oh, he has a glove. He just isn’t sure how to use it.
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Yeah, I’d condition mine that way too. I’d also rub neatsfoot oil into it every spring. Had to be neatsfoot oil.
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I thought the different methods of conditioning was interesting. Never thought about whacking it with a bat.

L.A. Times now has Hershiser interested in joining a possible Garvey group in purchasing the team.
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Frank, the day the divorce court heard your “vision” of reducing payroll while increasing ticket prices is the day you ceased to be relevant in L.A. And the fact that you and your ex would be stupid enough to go to trial and air this s**t is proof you are an incompetent, prideful fool.
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S E L L

According to the Dodgers:
Gibbons, Castro DFA; Ely, DeJesus optioned. Dee Gordon will wear No. 9 and be with club tonight
activated Uribe, Hawksworth and Thames from the DL and purchased the contract of Dee Gordon, who will be in uniform tonight

Emma – Thanks! I am so stoked about this, the second wave of the youth movement. Rubby, Sands, and Gordon team up with Kershaw, Bills, Kemp and Ethier to make this a team worth watching.
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Now, if we could just get rid of Frank McCourt.

Cormier 800K
Castro 380K
Gibbons 650K
Thames 1M
Barajas 3.25M
Navarro 1M
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Since they are going with the youth, designate Thames and bring up Robinson. I also consider the Barajas/Navarro signings as a waste. 4.25M for the same production as Ellis could have provided, which is virtually nothing.

Really? If you were the manager, would you sit Ethier for Thames against Lee? Consider the following:
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Lee’s splits are pretty even against L/R.
Thames has hit 3 HR in 36 AB against Lee.
Ethier is hitting .222 against lefties this year.
Thames is hitting .200 against lefties this year.
Thames is hitting .176 in total this year.
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If I was Donnie, I’d be playing Ethier. Rest? He rests on Thursday.

Mattingly learned from Joe and his “give away” game line-ups. Really don’t think it’ll matter much who plays in this series though. You either pitch around Kemp or you pitch around Dre and Kemp and you’re home free.

Supposedly, he has been working on consistently making the routine play. Supposedly, he has made progress over the past couple of weeks. I would think they would have left him down at AAA quite a bit longer to prove he’s really got the defense down pat. I’m surprised to see him up here before September.
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Looks like a desperation move.

I always like reading stories about how players choose and care for their gloves. Ask 100 players how they care for or break in their gloves and you will get 100 different answers. I used to just rub in glove oil and tie up the glove (usually with a belt) with a baseball inside to make the pocket. Does anyone else out there sometimes visit the baseball glove section of a sporting goods store just to try on gloves even though you have no intention of every buying one?

I would not mind Hershiser having a role in ownership but as much as I liked Garvey as a player, he has a lot of baggage in his personal and professional life. But until we hear those words we all have been waiting to hear (no, not “It’s time for Dodger baseball”), discussing the next Dodger owner is like discussing the reality of an NFL team in Los Angeles. I might add there might be a lot more interest in an ownership change for the Dodgers than whether L.A. ever gets an NFL team.

Well, at least Gibbons and Castro are finally gone. It’s a start!! Even though neither should have ever been signed in the first place. Another 1.18M down the drain. However, we could not risk 4 or 5M on Martin because of money issues. So we waste 4.25M on Barajas and Navarro.

This park bring me nightmare because of Broxton blowing that lead in the 9th. I surely hope we don’t have a repeat but glad Broxton is still on the DL but still don’t trust this bullpen and surely not in this bandbox.

Andre could have grounded into a double play too! What a crock!!! So what if he’s batting .220 against lefties. Half our lineup aren’t hitting much above .220 (if that) with their good side. Geez!!!! Just a tad miffed – sigh

It is being reported that Mattingly chose to ret his lefty hitter against the lefty pitcher because of the intense heat in Philly. Andre lives in friction’ Pheonix, AZ. He think he can handle it. Granted, it’s not heat with humidity, but I’ve been in Arizona during their monsoon season, and it’s plenty humid.

Not sure if Trevor Bauer is a pot head but he is a bit different. I never saw him in person but I did see him on TV and he is good. It will be tough for this Bruin fan if he ever faces the Dodgers but from what I have read about him, he has the work ethic and the intensity to make it at the next level.

You are right!! He is good. Two of the top three drafted were from UCLA. Not to shabby lbirken. We have a local kid from Turlock who has been scouted by UCLA since he was a sophomore. He is intending on going. He is a shortstop, and he is expected to be drafted in the 5th round. Not sure what he will do. He wasn’t that impressive to me, but maybe it’s because my son struck him out a couple times, along with a few ground outs. Perspective I guess 🙂

What do you think of the “youth movement”? Despite Ned’s love for Castro, he was a certainty to get chopped, but I didn’t see Gibbons coming.
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Hard for me to say “youth movement” when speaking about Ned though – usually its the word “bowel” that precedes the word “movement” when referring to our GM.

I admit I was surprised to see Jerry Sands survive the cut considering the way things have gone in the past. While Sands has not really been spectacular, he certainly has some potential and what better way to see how he handles things than to let him play. He certainly does not look as if he is intimidated.

Nice little league line-up. Kemp must feel all alone. And if they called him up, why isn’t Gordon playing? His competition is Carroll or Miles. Think we could live with one or the other out of the line-up to get a true lead-off hitter in there. Shit, wearing #9 he’s probably speedy and a hard worker too. And I’d be willing to bet he got to the ballpark early too.

LOL!! That was great. On national TV, they basically said what a mess the McCourts have made of the Dodgers and that they should do the graceful thing and sell the team. Also, that you could see it coming as they never should have been allowed to buy the team in the first place as they did not have the financial resources.

Hi ITD
Looks like we’ll have to get ready for another tough one tonight against the ever high flying Phillies. I just remember one thing, we’ve beaten this team before. Not often lately– but we have.
GO DODGERS!! GO RUBBY & DEE!!!.

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